On Facebook, the largest social media platform, news is a
common but incidental experience, according to an initiative of Pew Research Center in collaboration
with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Overall, about half of adult Facebook users, 47%, “ever” get
news there. That amounts to 30% of the population.
Most U.S.
adults do not go to Facebook seeking news out, the nationally representative
online survey of 5,173 adults finds. Instead, the vast majority of Facebook
news consumers, 78%, get news when they are on Facebook for other reasons. And
just 4% say it is the most important way they get news.
As one respondent summed it up, “I believe Facebook is a
good way to find out news without actually looking for it.”
However, the survey provides evidence that Facebook exposes
some people to news who otherwise might not get it.
In particular, younger adults, who as a group are less
engaged than their elders are with news on other platforms, are as engaged, if
not more so, with news on Facebook. Young people (18- to 29– year-olds) account
for about a third, 34%, of Facebook news consumers. That far outpaces the 20%
that they account for among Facebook users who do not get news on the site.
All in all, then, it may be the very incidental nature of
the site that ultimately exposes more people to news there. Indeed, the more
time one spends on the site, the more likely they are to get news there.
Two-thirds (67%) of those who use Facebook for at least an hour a day get news
there compared with only 41% of those who spend less than an hour a day on the
site.
No comments:
Post a Comment